Notable quotes about employees

The modern enterprise is defined not by its capital or infrastructure, but by the collective energy and alignment of its workforce. Navigating the delicate balance between management and inspiration, the world’s most successful leaders recognize that organizational excellence is an internal achievement before it is an external victory. This collection serves as a definitive resource on the strategy and philosophy of human capital, exploring how the evolving relationship between the organization and the individual shapes the trajectory of global commerce.

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Framing the employee as a strategic partner

It is not usual to speak of an employee as a partner, and yet what else is he?

— Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company

In my organizations I don't have employees; I have teammates. Yes, I do pay people and offer them benefits. But people don't work for me. They work with me. We are working together to fulfill the vision. Without them, I cannot succeed. Without me, they cannot succeed. We're a team. We reach our goals together. We need each other. If we didn't, then one of us is in the wrong place.

— John C. Maxwell, Author and Leadership Expert

Treat employees like partners, and they act like partners.

— Fred Allen, Former Chairman of Pitney Bowes

You'll attract the employees you need if you can explain why your mission is compelling: not why it's important in general, but why you're doing something important that no one else is going to get done.

— Peter Thiel, Co-founder of PayPal and Palantir

No company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.

— Jack Welch, Former Chairman and CEO of General Electric

A great employee is like a four leaf clover, hard to find & lucky to have.

— Tammy Cohen, Founder and CAO of InfoMart

Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.

— Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple

Great companies connect to the heartstrings of their employees to make their purposes known.

— Don Yaeger, Author and Journalist

If you are lucky enough to be someone's employer, then you have a moral obligation to make sure people do look forward to coming to work in the morning.

— John Mackey, Co-founder and Former CEO of Whole Foods Market

The job of the gifted boss is to create a magnetic environment, one capable of attracting great employees — the kind who don't need management, who lift up their coworkers and even their boss.

— Dale Dauten, Author and Business Columnist

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Empowerment and the architecture of leadership

Leaders need to provide strategy and direction and to give employees tools that enable them to gather information and insight from around the world. Leaders shouldn't try to make every decision.

— Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft

Simply giving employees a sense of agency- a feeling that they are in control, that they have genuine decision-making authority - can radically increase how much energy and focus they bring to their jobs.

— Charles Duhigg, Journalist and Author

The great organization must not only accommodate the fact that each employee is different, it must capitalize on these differences. It must watch for clues to each employee's natural talents and then position and develop each employee so that his or her talents are transformed into bona fide strengths.

— Marcus Buckingham, Author and Business Consultant

I think when people say they dread going into work on Monday morning, it's because they know they are leaving a piece of themselves at home. Why not see what happens when you challenge your employees to bring all of their talents to their job and reward them not for doing it just like everyone else, but for pushing the envelope, being adventurous, creative, and open-minded, and trying new things?

— Tony Hsieh, Former CEO of Zappos

Your job is not to lower the bottom by adjusting for and accommodating the lowest-performing employees. You should be raising the top by recognizing and rewarding superstar behavior.

— David Cottrell, Author and Speaker

Great employees don't have jobs, they have talents.

— Dale Dauten, Author and Business Columnist

Once employees feel challenged, invigorated and productive, their efforts will naturally translate into profit and growth for the organisation.

— Ricardo Semler, CEO of Semco Partners

Getting every employee’s mind into the game is a huge part of what a CEO’s job is all about. Taking everyone’s best ideas and transferring them to others is the secret. There’s nothing more important.

— Jack Welch, Former Chairman and CEO of General Electric

Employees want to believe their company has a meaningful purpose. They want to know that their own job is worthwhile. They want to make a difference. If all three of these conditions are accomplished, bottom line results will follow.

— Quint Studer, Founder of Studer Group

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Cultivating growth through appreciation and trust

We nourish the bodies of our children and friends and employees, but how seldom do we nourish their selfesteem? We provide them with roast beef and potatoes to build energy, but we neglect to give them kind words of appreciation that would sing in their memories for years like the music of the morning stars.

— Dale Carnegie, Author and Lecturer

I consider my ability to arouse enthusiasm among men the greatest asset I possess. The way to develop the best that is in a man is by appreciation and encouragement.

— Charles Schwab, Former President of Bethlehem Steel

In all forms of leadership, whether you are a coach, a CEO, or a parent, there are four words that, when said, can bring out the best in your team, your employees, and your family. I BELIEVE IN YOU. Those four words can mean the difference between a fear of failure and the courage to try.

— Mike Krzyzewski, Former Head Coach of Duke University

If you look for the best in your employees, they'll flourish. If you criticize or look for the worst, they'll shrivel up. We all need lots of watering.

— Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.

— Napoleon Hill, Author and Success Philosopher

You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself.

— Harvey S. Firestone, Founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company

If you are a parent, you have probably already realized that your children are always watching what you do. And just as children watch their parents and emulate their behavior, so do employees who are watching their bosses.

— John C. Maxwell, Author and Leadership Expert

Treat employees like they make a difference, and they will.

— Jim Goodnight, Co-founder and CEO of SAS Institute

You educate people, especially young people, by stirring their passions, so you take every opportunity to grab the imagination of your employees, you get them to feel they are doing something important, that they are not a lone voice, that they are the most powerful and potent people on the planet.

— Anita Roddick, Founder of The Body Shop

Research indicates that workers have three prime needs: Interesting work, recognition for doing a good job, and being let in on things that are going on in the company.

— Zig Ziglar, Author and Motivational Speaker

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Linking workplace culture to marketplace success

Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.

— Simon Sinek, Author and Inspirational Speaker

Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.

— Stephen Covey, Author and Educator

If you take care of your employees they will take care of your customers and your business will take care of itself.

— J.W. Marriott, Founder of Marriott International

When employees are happy, they are your very best ambassadors.

— James Sinegal, Co-founder and Former CEO of Costco

Happy employees build great products, and they take care of customers.

— Aneel Bhusri, Co-founder and CEO of Workday

Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.

— Anne M. Mulcahy, Former Chairperson and CEO of Xerox

In order to build a rewarding employee experience, you need to understand what matters most to your people.

— Julie Bevacqua, President of Rise People

The way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers

— Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group

Customers long to interact with - even relate to - employees who act like there is still a light on inside.

— Chip R. Bell, Author and Business Consultant

To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.

— Doug Conant, Former President and CEO of Campbell Soup Company

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Navigating the complexities of organizational dynamics

The difference between slaves in Roman and Ottoman days and today's employees is that slaves did not need to flatter their boss.

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Scholar and Statistician

Employees are not your family, or even your friends. Don't drag personal emotions or relationships into the business situation.

— Jane Wesman, Business Consultant and Author

Never expect the employees to be truly honest in front of their boss.

— Richard Moran, Author and Business Executive

Silicon Valley's success comes from the way its companies build alliances with their employees.

— Reid Hoffman, Co-founder of LinkedIn

The concept of lifetime employment arose when Japanese managers and employees both realized that they had much in common and that they had to make some long-range plans.

— Akio Morita, Co-founder of Sony

In Japan, employees occasionally work themselves to death. It's called Karoshi. I don't want that to happen to anybody in my department. The trick is to take a break as soon as you see a bright light and hear dead relatives beckon.

— Scott Adams, Creator of Dilbert

And in business, you behave in the way that gets the best from your managers and your employees.

— Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett, American investor and chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

If you fulfill the wishes of your employees, the employees will fulfill your visions.

— Amit Kalantri, Author and Speaker

Strategically, a major function of the CEO is to look for bad news and encourage the organization to respond to it. Employees must be encouraged to share bad news as much as good news.

— Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft

The resentment that criticism engenders can demoralize employees, family members and friends, and still not correct the situation that has been condemned.

— Dale Carnegie, Author and Lecturer

I like business because It demands faith. Faith in human nature, faith in one's self, faith in one's customers, faith in one's employees.

— William Feather, Publisher and Author

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